Z*-Numbers, Data Structures, and Thinking in Machine-Mind Architecture

A generally intelligent cognitive machine is deliberative, reflective, adaptive, empathetic and rational; continually aiming for the best responses to complex real-world events. This article describes our efforts towards the realization of such a machine – an embodied machine-mind – endowed with abilities of multisensory processing, commonsense reasoning, reflection, consciousness, and empathy. A procedure for contemplation and comprehension by the machine-mind has been formalized. It uses: a) Z*-numbers for active-thought abstraction, b) multisensory data-structures to encapsulate objective and subjective real-time inputs, and transport these across framework-modules, and c) dynamic action-descriptor formulations for bespoke behavior, perception, and real-time attention modulation. The defined procedure acknowledges the machine-mind's interest in the subject being comprehended, and covers different levels of thinking (instinctive reactions to self-consciousness reasoning). This investigation contributes to the synthesis of ‘thinking machines’ for man-machine symbiosis.